Hair care devices such as hairbrushes, curlers, crimpers and hair blowers are widely used to enhance personal grooming. Conventionally, hair is generally treated or styled with a styling means which is held on one hand while at the same time a hot-air blower is held on the other hand to provide hot air to shape the hair. In many circumstances, for example, in outdoor or temporary environment or during travelling, it is desirable that hair care and styling can be done with a single hand so that the other hand of a user can remain free for, for example, holding a mirror or other accessories or tools.
Among the various known hair care or styling means or tools, means for straightening hair are probably the least developed. Conventionally, hair is straightened by the use of a hairbrush to comb a section of hair away from the hair roots and then by turning the hairbrush to engage and then to pull the hair in order to impart tension to that section of hair straight. Once the hairbrush has moved a sufficient distance away from the roots of the hair and sufficient tension has been imparted to the combed portion, which is the portion of hair caught between the hair roots and the hairbrush, hot air is channelled through the outlet of the hair dryer and then directed back and forth along the tensioned portion of the hair to straighten and keep the straightened hair for a more extended period of time. In this styling method, hot air is used to “lock” the tensioned hair in its straightened form.
Straightening hair in the above conventional manner requires both hands of the user and can be a very tiring and cumbersome process. Also, it will be extremely difficult to straighten hair at the back of a user if the user attempts to straighten hair using the conventional method by himself or herself.
Furthermore, because of the limitation of the conventional brush-and-engage-and-pull-and-blow method of hair straightening, a long strand of hair has to be straightened in several steps which means that sufficient tension has to be maintained along the length of the hair while the engaging positions are moving away from the hair roots. This may be harmful to the scalp as the straightening tension may be significant or even excessive and the duration of the tension may be longer than necessary.
Due to the difficulty and tediousness associated with conventional hair straightening methods, hair straightening is usually performed by professional hairdressers on the clients of hair salons, hairdressers, and the like. Thus, there is at least a need of hair care or styling devices which can be conveniently utilized to perform hair styling, hair-care or hair treatment, especially hair straightening, with a single hand. Also, in view of the limited methods available for straightening hair, there is also a general demand for hair-care or hair-styling devices which can be used to generally straighten hair without requiring the exertion of excessive tension on the hair to alleviate possible damage to the scalp. Furthermore, it will be desirable if there can be provided hair styling devices, apparatuses or attachments generally for straightening hair in which there is no need to apply tension at discrete intervals along the length of hair in order to impart sufficient tension to straighten hair. Preferably, when using such improved devices, attachments or apparatuses, only mild tension needs to be gradually applied to the hair being straightened while the devices, attachments or apparatuses, progress through the length of the hair in a direction away from the hair roots.